Somber Creation, Pale Destruction
by Avenger Hawk
Summary: Even a perfect plan like Madara's can have setbacks, but not all of them are bad. Some provide an interesting entertainment to an immortal who can no longer be defeated. Especially the defiant pale boy who has only one desire and is willing to do everything to have him back.(Madasasu, canon divergent, dub-con, mentions of past dub-con/non-con, anti-ending, image edited by me)
1. Chapter 1

_**I dedicate this story to my friend, favourite artist and fellow Madasasu enthusiast Wynillustrates (on tumblr, Wnarya on Deviantart), whose art is a constant source of inspiration and whose headcanons and aesthetic are very, very similar to mine~**_

* * *

" _Don't waste your touch, you won't feel anything_

 _Or were you sent to save me?" (AFI, The Leaving Song)_

* * *

History teaches that Madara Uchiha died at the hands of Hashirama Senju.

Their statues were erected in the Valley Of The End where their battle was fought, where the shinobi god ended his best friend's life in order to protect the village they founded together.

No one knows that Madara didn't die there.

No one knows that he used Izanagi to revert his fate and revive himself, replacing his corpse with a kage bunshin.

No one knows that he lived decades after that fight, alone, in a dark cave, occasionally wandering outside to see what the shinobi world was becoming.

No one knows that he activated Rinnegan and devised a plan to rewrite reality and achieve the peace he dreamed of as a child.

Never in his long life he would have imagined to use such power for the first time to trick his summoner.

The one supposed to revive him was Nagato with Rinne Tensei, not a ghastly person with a jutsu he doesn't know.

The man with snake-like features thought he could use him as a weapon, just like the others he brought back from the dead.

He was wrong.

It's exhilarating for Madara to feel the never-ending chakra flowing through his system.

It's amusing for him to pretend to be just a body in a casket until a paper seal in his head will give him a puppet-like life.

It would be even more amusing to see the look on the man's face if he transformed from the strong legendary warrior history remembered into the old man no one has ever seen.

The snake would be confused, thinking he robbed the wrong grave. Madara would scare him by shifting appearance again, then again, then again, reassuring him because he made no mistake.

Because he is in the presence of the most powerful man on Earth.

He dismisses that idea though. Whether that weird human knows or not, nothing will change the fact that Madara Uchiha defeated death. That he has limitless chakra. That he has Rinnegan and Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. That he is stronger than anyone. That he is finally stronger than Hashirama, his friend, his rival, the one who put his brother and his village before him. The one who discarded his opinion on the village both created, the one who let that village shun him and mistrust him. The one who killed him.

His body didn't die that time but his heart certainly had.

It's a bitter thought, to be alive when his counterpart is dead and gone.

But he is determined to avoid stupid sentimentalism: Hashirama is dead and gone. He is back, immortal.

Hashirama lost, he won.

He has been alone in a cave for so long, before passing away, that the air feels nice on his skin and the creepy snake's little plan is an interesting diversion to his own.

He is good at improvising anyway.

* * *

He only needs to touch a Zetsu to have all the information he needs.

The boy Obito -a man now- didn't betray him, but there have been complications.

Not all the tailed beasts are in his possession. Hachibi and Kyuubi are being strenuously defended

by an alliance of shinobi from all countries, against which his pupil has declared war.

In the past such alliance would have never happened.

The previous generations were narrow-minded.

Such minds are hard to change, but once convinced they will follow the new path just as blindly as the previous one.

The current generation is idealistic.

Too bad that their lack of backbone turns their ideals into childish dreams that can't last when facing reality.

 _He and Hashirama had the same problem, a long time ago._

Madara let Kabuto use him like the other Edo Tensei, from intimidating Obito to being sent to the battlefield.

What a nostalgic sensation, fighting multiple enemies at once, easily defeating them all.

There is definitely no need to rush. He missed a lot of things when he was alone and weak and old.

And dead.

Back in his days shinobi were strong enough to submit the Tailed Beasts. Now their vessels are the only notable ones, and other than a few exceptions everyone else is less than average for his standards.

This generation is better at talking than at fighting; Madara learns everything about the war and its protagonists through their words, not just through the constant flux of data he receives from Zetsu as he revels in the sensations of his once again _-and forever-_ strong body deflecting, blocking and striking back, over and over.

He learns so much that he predicts exactly what will happen once he'll put his original plan in motion: he would easily defeat their leaders while Obito, as a part of this spineless generation, would eventually break under his former comrade or a smooth talker such as the Kyuubi host appealing to the person he once was. He would have to intervene while the Zetsu would overpower every other shinobi.

Then he would cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

It's a perfect plan. So perfect that it's too fast, too predictable.

Now that he is immortal time has no longer the same value. To be fast is no longer necessary.

Rushing towards a goal seems incomplete now, as the result isn't more important than the process of reaching it.

Being perfect too isn't as imperative as before, as he doesn't have only one chance anymore.

His plan was far-sighted and thorough, as expected from someone pushed by the urge to change the world, to give people the peace they weren't able to achieve for themselves.

He started conceiving it before the final fight, when he set up Izanagi to negate his death, using his rival's flesh to heal his wounds.

He thought about variants and outcomes as he waited for the lost eye to be restored and Rinnegan to activate, as he summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and created a non-sentient Hashirama's clone that would infuse him chakra and prolong his life, all while implanting his Rinnegan into an Uzumaki boy, whose clan was genetically closest to Senju.

 _He chose that boy because he sensed a similar chakra, even if he didn't resemble his friend at all._

 _He created a soulless clone of his friend._

 _He missed his friend._

 _He was still uncertain back then, struggling between purpose and despair, love and hate._

 _He wasn't ready to let go of the past yet._

Only when Obito was left for dead in his cave he devised the perfect course of action.

He manipulated the boy into becoming his replacement, isolating him for years then making it possible for him to escape, so that he would see his best friend kill the woman he loved.

So that he would see that reality was hell. So that he would accept Madara's alternative for the future. So that he would take Madara's memories and identity once he died.

Not knowing that his mentor orchestrated Rin's kidnapping to turn her into the Three Tails' jinchuuriki, so that she had no choice but to die by Kakashi's hands, Obito continued his work, manipulating events and people, founding Akatsuki to keep Nagato under control for when the time would come to revive him, extending his control to the Fourth Mizukage, unleashing the Nine Tailed Fox against Konoha.

 _Madara never said he would destroy the whole Uchiha clan: that was Obito's personal interpretation._

 _Konoha's former founder was proud that the memories he engraved in the boy's brain had inspired such initiative._

Hashirama used to say that no matter how well one was prepared, the unexpected was always behind, watching, waiting for the right moment to make its entrance. Sometimes it didn't deem it necessary; sometimes it wrecked every single thing that crossed its path.

He was right.

His return as Edo Tensei is unexpected.

Not that he complained. In fact, if being immortal in a world of weak and spineless warriors would have been horribly demeaning for his past self, for his present self it's interesting, to say the least.

It's ironic that someone strict as Tobirama created a jutsu that crossed the border between life and death, disregarding ethics and morality, Madara thinks, amused, facing the Kage and recognizing a Senju woman.

Sasuke Uchiha is unexpected.

Vaguely looking like his brother Izuna, they were actually very different.

Sasuke is rebellious to everything, only focused on one single person, according to Zetsu. Izuna was loyal to the clan, much more than he was.

 _Madara wanted the Uchiha to prosper but he also wanted them to coexist peacefully with other clans. He believed in Konoha, a village where everyone lived and worked together, where differences weren't a reason to fight but an occasion to discuss and learn._

 _Konoha didn't believe in him, instead. They didn't deem him worthy of ruling because he was an Uchiha, no matter how much he proved his loyalty._

 _Hashirama was Hokage while he was just one face in the Council._

 _Izuna was dead and Tobirama was alive._

 _What more did they want?_

 _Eventually he understood that real peace and understanding were nothing but a dream._

 _The only way to achieve it was to put everyone under control._

 _To give them a new, different reality._

 _An Infinite Tsukuyomi._

Without even knowing his last descendant has been a setback on multiple occasions: chasing after his brother he prevented the kidnapping of the Kyuubi boy, once he joined Akatsuki he failed retrieving the Hachibi.

He was family though. Obito did the right thing, telling him the truth, keeping him close, fueling his hate.

Maybe he could have turned him into a pupil, a company, a pet.

 _Like he was for Madara._

If only Itachi Uchiha hadn't existed.

He is unexpected too.

Obito never succeeded in winning over the young shinobi who devoted his life to his brother, staining his hands with the blood of his clansmen so that the little one would survive, who defended Konoha from the shadows, granting Sasuke the revenge he needed; who, brought back as Edo Tensei, even without Rinnegan, managed to free himself from the snake man's control, locating and defeating him.

With his superior intellect, his impressive abilities and his strength of mind and soul, Itachi Uchiha would have shined during his times, Madara muses, as the battlefield is lit up by the peaceful brightness of the summoned shinobi returning to the other world.

 _Itachi Uchiha stopped the Edo Tensei._

 _It wasn't strange that his brother adored him, despite what he suffered because of him._

The Kage are too busy defending themselves against his multiple Susano'o to notice that they are fighting mere clones.

The real one has just found something more interesting to do.

* * *

"What is it that you want, boy?"

Sasuke doesn't hear him the first time.

His eyes are glistening. His lips are parted.

As if he has spoken, unheard, to the one who went away.

He looks fragile, so pale and gaunt in that dark cave.

 _Like a child who got lost._

He lost his most important person again, this time after having lived a glimpse of what their life could have been.

Madara is patient. He repeats the same question once, twice. Three times, until he is heard.

Then, he waits for an answer.

It's obvious that the boy is hesitating with a stranger.

He hardens his look.

 _No one must see his weakness. No one must see his loneliness._

"Are you lost or what? What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for you, boy."

The man replies with an ambiguous tone that is neither tentative nor arrogant.

"Who the hell are you?"

Sasuke presses.

"Madara Uchiha...nice to meet you."

 _The man who treated his wounds. The man who told him the truth._

 _Itachi's dark mentor. The man who helped him kill the clan._

 _The man who knows more than him about his brother._

"Did you forget your mask or what?"

Madara smirks at his comeback. He likes this boy already.

"I understand your confusion. That would be my underling. My temporary replacement if you will."

The man walks towards Kabuto's still body, opening one of his eyes to examine him.

"Izanami. Fascinating..."

"My brother did it."

Sasuke states proudly, even though that pride doesn't change the sadness in his eyes.

 _Izanagi rewrites reality in exchange of_ _one eye._

 _For the same price, Izanami traps the opponent in a loop where they won't be able to escape until they'll realize their mistake._

 _Madara used Izanagi once. Many did. Even his father._

 _He never met anyone who used Izanami._

 _He never met anyone who wanted to redeem someone._

 _The boy didn't want to, either._

 _He wanted to kill the enemy and spend time with his brother, but Itachi insisted and their time together ended too soon._

"My replacement was supposed to prepare my comeback but someone preceded him..."

He adds, gesturing at Orochimaru's pupil.

Only then Sasuke notices the man's black sclerae and the cracks on his face.

"Impossible. My brother dispelled the Edo Tensei."

 _My brother is stronger than anyone._

"Yet here I am..."

The boy is stunned when the stranger turns his Edo Tensei appearance into a normal one. White sclerae, no more lines on his face, a healthy complexion. He looks alive.

"What do you want, Madara Uchiha?"

Now he sounds threatening.

 _Not because he is a dangerous enemy. He doesn't care about the war raging outside the cave anyway._

 _Not because he is afraid of him. He doesn't care about his life anyway._

 _Only because he dared invalidate his brother's efforts._

"What do _you_ want, Sasuke Uchiha?"

Echoes the man. He doesn't wait for a reply.

"You want your brother, Itachi Uchiha."

"Don't mention him ever again."

Sasuke hisses.

"Now leave the hell out of here."

He doesn't want to speak to that man.

He is lost. Completely, utterly lost.

He can't understand why Itachi was still loyal to concepts like shinobi and village.

For him those words have a different meaning.

Shinobi means being strong and having control over one's own life.

 _It means being similar to his brother._

Village means the place where one is born by coincidence, that by the same coincidence becomes the symbol of where their loyalty is bound to.

 _It means rulers that decide who's allowed to exist and who isn't._

Furious and heartbroken for their imminent definite parting, he told Itachi that meeting him had turned his hate towards the village that made him suffer so much even stronger.

That no matter how many times Itachi, the older brother, would defend it, he, the younger brother, would tear it down.

Nevertheless, had Itachi asked him to defend Konoha together he would have accepted, not for Konoha but for him.

Only for him.

 _He would do anything for him._

"To have him back...Isn't that what you want?"

 _Itachi said that the Edo Tensei was a vile jutsu for both the dead and the living but to Sasuke it became the medium to see him again, to talk to him again, to touch him again -if only he dared to._

 _Out of respect, out of uncertainty, he never did, until his brother himself grabbed his head and bumped their foreheads, closing the distance between them for a moment, before he disappeared forever._

 _He would give anything to touch him again._

 _He would do anything to see him again._

Sasuke's bitter laugh signals Madara that it's time for showing what the most powerful man on Earth can do.

"Is she your friend?"

He asks, pointing at Anko's form, lying in the ground not far from them.

The boy shakes his head then barely suppresses a flinch. He hates pointless killing.

Especially when the killer is so fast to be able to steal his sword before reaching the woman.

Especially when the killer flings her in the air and cuts her head off, all while smiling like a magician doing his show.

Only it's not a trick. There is no genjutsu.

Then, Rinnegan flaring in both eyes he brings her back with Rinne Tensei, like Nagato should have done with him.

She isn't an impure reincarnation. She is alive, as feisty as she was her during the chuunin exam, until Madara's eye pattern changes into Mangekyou Sharingan and she becomes the silent dreamer of a Tsukuyomi dream.

He lifts his index up, as to say he isn't over yet.

Placing his hand on her Curse Mark he lets something out. Sasuke recognizes Orochimaru's familiar chakra peeking out. Before he comes out as well does the man traps him in a genjutsu and puts him back where he was.

"I can give you your brother back if you follow me."

He states again with a satisfied smirk, turning towards an astonished Sasuke.

"Where?"

Sasuke isn't threatening anymore.

He respects strength and this person is incredibly strong.

 _This man can give him Itachi back._

 _Nothing else matters._

"Far from this war."

"Isn't this war going on because of you?"

He inquired.

"Don't worry about that, boy. I will take care of it."

Madara replies nonchalantly as he puts his hands over the boy's shoulders.

It's not one of those familiar gestures that Sasuke hates. The man isn't even looking at him.

"Come out now," he commands. Five Zetsu come out from his body, just like they did during the Kage meeting.

The creatures' eyes change into reflections of the Uchiha elder's Rinnegan.

"As you command."

They say in unison.

"Someone is coming, hurry up."

The man points at the direction to take, while all Zetsu disappear in the ground but one, who shape-shifts into someone else.

Sasuke doesn't notice. He follows the stranger, leaping through the trees, just like he did with his brother not long before.

Only he's not screaming for attention and answers.

He's confused.

Meeting Itachi didn't just reopen the wound left by his loss. It didn't just sharpen his loneliness.

It also opened a hole that only knowledge could fill.

Sasuke feels he doesn't understand enough. That he doesn't know enough.

 _Orochimaru, who always sought knowledge, isn't really dead._

 _Despite being a traitor he should know what a village is._

 _Despite being a rogue with a bounty on his head he should be able to explain what a shinobi is._

 _Has he done the right thing, not questioning his former teacher and walking away?_

"I'll answer your questions, boy..." Madara shakes him off his musings.

 _Did he just read his mind?_

His voice is almost lost among the leaves, as he quickens his pace.

"...and if you'll still have some you'll ask your brother!"

 _He will understand Itachi's ideals talking to him again._

 _He will have him back again._

 _Nothing is more important._

* * *

It's not the first time that Sasuke ends up with a powerful stranger that he doesn't really trust yet he has no other choice but to follow, if he wants to achieve his goal.

 _This time his goal is having his brother back._

 _Nothing is more important._

 _He never trusted people anyway. Only his brother._

He knows better than to impatiently stalk them until they'll give him what he wants.

He also knows that they always ask for something in return.

 _At least Madara won't require his body as a vessel. He is immortal, unlike Orochimaru._

 _Besides, he is family._

 _Will it mean something?_

To revive Itachi Madara needs the Demonic Statue and his corpse. The Zetsu are retrieving both, moving underground like ants.

 _A space bending jutsu to bring retrieve them is possible, but why hurrying?_

They settle in an old Uchiha base.

Madara explains that it was the first Uchiha settlement, from the times there were no villages.

It was already there when he was born.

Even before he and Hashirama founded Konoha their clan had already moved to other areas, leaving that base empty and sealed invisible to non Uchiha eyes, so that no one would touch it.

 _So that no one would taint it._

The man transfers in a Zetsu Kabuto's useful medical abilities and acquired powers.

The snake was an interesting person, he says, albeit too needy of others' approval, too struggling with his sense of self.

Zetsu are much better: a by-product of the Senju cells cultivation in the Gedo Mazo, they don't have feelings or emotions. They don't understand ambition or revenge.

They aren't human. In spite of their humanoid appearance they are nothing more than carnivore plants, genetically designed to talk, move and obey him and no one else.

There are his eyes and ears. They have always been so.

* * *

Sasuke wants to learn everything that influenced his brother's ideals.

Madara knows everything.

He tells him their clan's history, their myths and legends. Their old gods, later replaced with Senju's cult of the Will of Fire.

For the boy it's fascinating to learn about beliefs and customs that changed over time so much that at a first glance they seem unrelated notions, but instead speak volumes about their world, from the clash of cultures in the beginning, to the imposition of one instead of the creation of a new syncretism with all the different elements, to include everyone.

This surely influenced Konoha's inclination to suffocate what doesn't conform to the Will of Fire and what doesn't blindly obey its rulers.

"Are you really sure that you want your brother back?"

Madara asks once.

"Are you going back to your word?"

Sasuke interrupts. His look becomes darker, his stance guarded.

He is ready to strike, no matter how strong the other man is.

 _Without Itachi his life is meaningless anyway._

Unimpressed, the older man keeps talking, with the ironic tone that his descendant knows well by now.

The tone of someone who never take anything too seriously.

 _He doesn't need to, now that he's immortal._

"Bringing a dead man back is a rather...controversial act, frowned upon by morality, religion and ethics..."

 _Itachi too had spoken harsh words against it._

 _For Sasuke though, the pain of losing him is stronger than anything._

 _Even stronger than the respect for his brother's morals._

Madara observes, smirking.

He knows that the boy doesn't care about ethics. He wouldn't care about such limitations either.

 _Itachi wouldn't have cared either if Sasuke died, had he the chance to bring him back._

 _Everything Madara learned through Zetsu proved that Itachi's morals were complicated, to say the least._

 _His pure ideals, his endless love for Sasuke and the darkness he went through to achieve his goal; the immortal was fascinated by his strength of will, regardless of his contradictions._

 _To save his brother from death he destroyed his life. He beat his body down. He destroyed his mind and soul, tearing down everything he had, turning his attention on him only._

 _Death would have been a more merciful fate, the man thinks, remembering Izuna._

 _Sasuke is strong and smart. His unrelenting willpower reminds Madara of himself._

 _Yet he is broken inside._

 _He hides his naivete with excessive training, his insecurity with arrogance._

 _He has an adult-like determination and analytic disposition but childlike emotions, raw and blindingly powerful. Even though they exist for just one._

Madara doesn't intend to go back on his word.

He is set on bringing Itachi back as he promised _-he is curious, meeting such prodigy in person will be interesting indeed._

Nevertheless he is testing the boy's motivation. And his own ability to play this game.

First, instilling a desire Sasuke didn't even know he had.

Then, once its seed blooms into a real need, taking it back, showing him obstacles, with the only purpose to make the need grow stronger, and with it Sasuke's motivation to stay, until every uncertainty in following him is erased.

 _As if Sasuke has any._

 _He followed Orochimaru, he followed Obito with no uncertainty._

 _He left his old friends and comrades behind more than once, to follow a path leading to Itachi, no matter who he would end with._

"I don't give a damn about all that."

Sasuke replies, looking straight in his eyes.

"I just want my brother back."

Madara knows he made the right choice. That boy will provide him great entertainment.

He will give him what he wants but first he needs to be trained.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **I like crack pairings and coming up with a scenario where they make sense comes naturally to me. My first Itachi ship was Madaita, mostly because of Lily's art and because the masked man was believed to be Madara instead of Obito. Now I prefer like Obiita (the way Obito talked about Itachi to Sasuke...), in the meantime Madasasu became one of my favourite pairings, because of some fanart and the little interactions they had in canon.**_

 _ **In my opinion their personalities make room for a lot of dark, ambiguous, intriguing potential. And even more than that.**_

 _ **Surely it's a crack pairing, but one thing in their canon interaction intrigued me. When Madara stabbed Sasuke he was quoting Hashirama's words, and at the moment of stabbing him he said "In order to protect something one must sacrifice something else. Be it a friend, sibling or even my own child". It was fascinating, to me it was like an admission of a bond, somehow. Also when Sasuke is dying on the ground Madara acknowledges his eyes, and his suffering that brought them. I felt like these two might have a bond, in the right context.**_

 _ **This story has strong underlying Itasasu feelings but it's a Madasasu, keep that in mind.**_

 _ **Also, this story allows me to divert from canon, which I hate.**_

 _ **The Madara I'm writing is immortal, having defeated Edo Tensei like in canon. With this in mind I imagined seeing that the new generation is weaker and more spineless for his own, his ideal of using Infinite Tsukuyomi and creating peace without free will, for the sake of humanity, is less urgent. When he conceived it he wasn't immortal and he couldn't properly use Rinnegan because he was too old, now he doesn't have limitations and he concentrates on "less important" things, being less serious and more of a trickster, sort of, like that part where he feels the battle, the wounds on his body, enjoying everything very much. This is what I took inspiration from. I imagined that someone who's immortal, incredibly strong and has this new disposition, would also be very curious, but also picky. Not many characters would arouse his interest. Except for Edo Tensei Itachi, who stopped the Edo Tensei jutsu all by himself, almost, and Sasuke, who's not affiliated to anything and anyone (but his brother), and who has unknowingly been a problem for his plan.**_

 _ **Sasuke is lost, after losing Itachi again. I imagined that the perfect moment for Madara and Sasuke to get in touch was right after Itachi disappeared. After that he would meet his comrades who would give him the Edo Tensei scroll, he would summon Orochimaru then the Kage to understand Itachi's ideals, and join the battlefield to honor Itachi's ideals. Before all that he was lost, full of pain for Itachi and full of hate for Konoha. That is the perfect moment.**_

 _ **I wanted to give Madara a sort of tempting devil feel, the result made me also think of Sebastian and Ciel, from Kuroshitsuji. I don't dislike it.**_

 _ **I trailed off. If you hate Kaguya and the ending and you have an open mind about pairings, you might like this fic. Otherwise...not my problem.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Warning: malexmale, dub-con and probably a few more issues. Like daddy issues. Also, anti-ending.**_

* * *

" _I'm on my hands and knees._

 _I want so much to believe." (Nine Inch Nails, Terrible Lie)_

* * *

Suigetsu and Juugo find Sasuke in the cave, lost in thoughts near Kabuto's statue-like body. They free Orochimaru, who decides to help his former pupil. They head for Konoha where the sannin summons the four past Kage who narrate the origins of their village and the ideals behind it.

 _Nobody understands that the one beside them is not Sasuke but a Zetsu, with a copy of Madara's Rinnegan._

 _Not even Karin can tell them apart, as she soon falls into a post-hypnotic suggestion specifically designed for chakra sensors._

Sasuke joins the battlefield announcing that he wants to become Hokage now. Team Seven is together again, no longer as inexperienced genin but as sannin disciples. They fight against the Ten Tails, unleashed by Obito and Madara after the latter defeats the Five Kage.

The Uchiha patriarch tries to bring on his side his descendant who refuses, as he's set on destroying the past and build a new future.

 _Nobody understands that the one fighting beside them is not Sasuke but a Zetsu._

 _Nobody understands that the one they are fighting is not the real Madara but a Kage Bunshin._

* * *

Before his rebirth Madara revered Rinnegan. Now his eyes are just another part of his body, like his arms and ears. He doesn't see them as sacred anymore, just like he doesn't feel the same urgency.

He is not the same person he used to be, neither in body nor in mind.

The new Madara Uchiha is immortal, the strongest warrior in a world of weak fighters and big talkers.

There is a worldwide war going on yet for him there is no war at all.

He already won against death: the shinobi alliance is nothing, compared to it.

He can easily tell that it's not a real cooperation. Even if they were to win they wouldn't be able to fix their system. They wouldn't be able to live in peace for long, before someone would stake their arbitrary claims.

Although peace is still his final goal, immortality grants him a different perspective -a divine standpoint- which begets an insatiable curiosity. That's why he devises a new plan.

No one will notice that Sasuke has been replaced by a Zetsu, able to replicate the young Uchiha's powers and even develop abilities from the copy of Madara's Rinnegan.

No one even remembers Sasuke's full powers and his personality has always been misunderstood, in case the human plant should act out of character, but just as expected he is good at acting; his interpretation is dramatic and intense.

Just as arranged, he fights alongside his comrades all the while causing more ruckus, keeping the simpletons around him entertained and distracted while setting the stage for the astonishing turn of events: the mastermind behind every influential event in the shinobi world betrayed by his subordinate, whose true identity is the emissary of a goddess from another planet.

Never in his own time a shinobi would have believed to something similar to the stories grandmothers used to tell children as a warning to never lose track of their arrogance no matter how strong they are, or they would end up like that warrior, believing he was in control when he was controlled instead.

It's absurd that Madara would be defeated so easily and it's laughable that a whole army believes it.

There is no satisfaction in winning over them: people who believe in anything they see, regardless of logic, deserve to be fooled and need to be controlled, for their own good, so that they won't destroy themselves and the world as they sway like seaweed misled by dangerous waves in an ocean of ideas.

There is no harm in keeping them safe while entertaining himself in the process.

His new plan is even better than the previous one, just like his new protégé is better than the previous one.

Madara doesn't take Obito's change of mind as a personal offense.

He didn't really chose him, after all. He just took advantage of the opportunity when the boy stumbled upon his hideout, many years before.

It took time to tear his defenses down, so that a young shinobi devoted to his friends and loyal to his village would accept his vision; there was a reason why, in his original plan, Obito was supposed to never come in contact with Kakashi again.

He should have controlled Nagato into using Rinne Tensei to revive him but after having talked to the Kyuubi vessel the man used it to revive the victims of his attack, before dying for the exertion.

For the Uchiha patriarch Naruto's words are platitudes that only a child could spit out without being ashamed of his own stupidity; another proof of how different their generations are.

 _Madara's generation was openly cruel._

 _Their actions were justified as necessary to win a war that no one truly wanted to end._

 _Children were sent to war as soon as they could use a weapon. It was customary to use them as decoys to distract and weaken the enemy, like his father and Hashirama's did._

 _This generation's cruelty is hypocritical and coward, with no one taking responsibility for it, from using orphans and discarding them before they can even defend themselves, to secretly commanding to annihilate a clan from its village. They were cowards and hypocrites, forcing subordinates to dirty their hands in their place and never taking responsibility for their actions._

 _Madara never wanted peace to save people; most of them didn't even deserve to live._

 _To him peace was the right thing for the world, part of which was the human race._

Everyone changed their mind after speaking with that Nine Tails' boy; Nagato and Obito were no different.

 _Everyone but Sasuke._

 _Even though Naruto's speech was unexpectedly inspired, he didn't budge. Madara saw it through Zetsu, just like he saw the boy killing Danzo, who ordered the massacre of their clan, just like he saw the massacre itself, and the child facing his brother who had been forced to become a murderer, just like he saw his sharingan activating when said brother left him alone and desperate._

Finally Madara found someone with no devotion to friends and village.

Only to one, which means to him as well, for he is the only one who can give Sasuke what he wants.

 _Which means that he can fix any price for it._

* * *

Madara has always been indifferent to most people.

If possible he would have done everything by himself, as every time he relied on others, no matter how loyal, he found only obstacles on his path.

He loved Izuna but he needed to protect him.

 _His brother's death left a hole in his soul that weakened him, paving the way to confusion and mistakes._

He loved Hashirama but his need for the man's acknowledgment was so strong that he felt betrayed when the other put the village above him.

He liked Obito even if he was just a mean to his end, but he worked hard to change his mind so that he would become his tool.

Sasuke is different. Madara doesn't feel any obligation to protect him or need to obtain his approval. He doesn't have to change the boy's mind either, since he willingly followed the elder.

 _The boy has only one wish and Madara intends to keep his promise. In due time._

Madara likes Sasuke.

He considers him an interesting creature, full of contrasts.

He likes his pale complexion, similar to Izuna's. He is a lunar creature indeed, no matter how long he stays in the sun it never seems to reach his skin.

He likes his high cheekbones, his thin nose, his elongated eyes and his mouth, constantly turned downwards. Compared to Izuna's delicate features, the boy's are sharper, carved by pain and anger.

He likes his lack of manners.

He learned how rude the boy could be during their first encounter, when he realized that he didn't respect age or rank.

O _nly strength, and he is the strongest one._

As days go by he gets to know that Sasuke is unexpectedly easy to live with: he keeps to himself most of the time, taking long walks in the woods, dozing _-Madara wonders if he sleeps so much to dream of his brother-_ or training.

 _When asked why he still trains so diligently the boy doesn't reply but it's not a rude gesture._

 _He truly doesn't know. It's an ingrained habit that started when he was a child, desperately trying to become strong like his big brother._

He likes how Sasuke seeks him out to learn anything his progenitor can teach him, from history to Uchiha customs, from fighting to falconry.

 _Madara is not surprised by the affectionate, trusting and respectful side he only shows to animals. He figures that the boy trusts animals better than humans because people betrayed, lied and manipulated him. A part of him hopes that it's also because these animals belong to him._

He likes how he doesn't need to hold back whenever they spar. Sasuke doesn't want him to; he knows that he's no match against Madara, the immortal, the strongest of this era.

No one is.

 _Except for Itachi, for Sasuke is unable to imagine that anyone is better than his brother._

 _Not even the powerful immortal that will bring him back._

He likes how the boy doesn't protest when he examines his body after his wounds are healed with Zetsu's Senju chakra, the right amount to close bleeding gashes and fix broken bones, but nothing more than that.

He wants Sasuke to adjust to his time-ignoring pace: recovering from injuries is the most effective way to slow him down.

Madara could leave his descendant in Zetsu's care but he considers it as a duty, to tend to what he broke. Which is a lot, for he hits hard and fast.

Never the boy looks afraid or even worried for any damage he sustains. He doesn't care much about himself, that is obvious. Probably he trusts that his only relative won't hurt him too much.

Maybe because every time they come home after training, no matter if he's wounded or not, Madara examines his slender appearance, so much smaller than his own, even thinner than Izuna yet taut and firm.

He used to say he was fine at first, that he didn't need anything, but the elder insisted, reminding him that applying bandages is easier if done by someone else. That he certainly won't bother treating his bruises with salve, unless someone else will.

Sasuke always complains that his bandaging is too tight. Such compression prevents the wound from reopening, and from hurting more, he says, stroking the area to prove his point, indifferent to the boy's glare, the same as when he runs his balm coated fingers from his back to his shoulders, from his prominent collarbone to his chest, from his abdomen to his hipbones and long legs, holding him still by his thin wrist _-so easy to break if he wanted-_ because the boy flinches when his strokes are too heavy on his healing wounds or _other_ parts.

* * *

Sasuke doesn't care about people.

 _Only about one._

Although he tried to do everything by himself he knew he needed others to reach his goals, so he discarded those who hindered his progress and chose ones who could be useful. Despite his initially opportunistic reasons he did think well of them.

Madara is no exception. He wouldn't say that he likes him but he doesn't dislike him either.

He doesn't dislike his strong features, his look, that exudes confidence, his warrior-like posture.

Something in him reminds him of his father, although they're nothing alike.

 _It must be because as a child he saw his father, the clan leader, as the personification of power._

Fugaku looked ordinary while his ancestor's features are striking, the kind that can't be easily forgotten.

He doesn't dislike listening to him. His speech is vivid, eloquent but not it is history or a new technique he is unexpectedly patient, no matter how many questions he asks.

 _This the first time someone explains teaches_ _him with such dedication. Sasuke knows it's because Madara has all the time in the world while Itachi couldn't waste time with him, being forced to spy on Konoha and their clan at the same time._

He doesn't dislike when Madara joins him during his walks.

There are no people in the hidden Uchiha territory. Only animals. For him it's much better.

 _Animals don't lie. They don't pretend. They don't manipulate. They don't judge._

When the elder notices his fondness for them, he offers to teach him horse archery and falconry, the latter especially because he saw through Zetsu's eyes how good he is with his summon hawk.

He doesn't mind losing against him every time; he knows he's learning from the best.

Madara likes to fight for real, no limits or restrictions, be it with weapons, ninjutsu or taijutsu. When it's over, Sasuke is on his hand and knees, unable to stand up, chakra completely drained. Sometimes his breathing is laboured and uneven because his ribs are cracked under the elder's powerful kicks. Sometimes he feels lightheaded for the blood profusely oozing out of various cuts.

Unlike his father, the elder never belittles him. In fact, he compliments his techniques.

He doesn't even tease him as they spar, instead he incites the boy to enjoy fighting. He is no longer a shinobi bound to his village, he says. Fighting is not just enduring pain to defeat an opponent. It's also a matter of focusing on the tactile impressions of each punch and kick and gash, both given and received.

A truly strong shinobi must revel in those sensations for they are proof that he is alive.

That they both are.

He doesn't mind the elder's tall, muscular body hovering over him as he examines him after they spar. Sometimes Sasuke tries to squirm out of his care but then his wrist is locked in his grip and he's pulled back against the wall or a bed or anything that blocks him.

 _Relax, boy, Madara says, chuckling because he makes more fuss when he's being treated than when he's being beaten up. His grip barely loosens up though, reminding him of Itachi's._

He doesn't really mind his hands roaming over his body even if he hates being touched.

He is used to having his personal space invaded. Besides, Madara is only tending to his wounds and applying salve.

 _And tracing his chest and stomach and hips with his palms and fingers, pushing on his bruises and wounds and complimenting his high tolerance to pain._

 _That, too, is something no one ever told him._

* * *

Madara knows that Sasuke is torn between hate for Konoha and confusion, because Itachi protected it until the end.

He doesn't just teach him things. He also asks him things. His life, his family, his brother, anything he remembers about the clan.

 _Sasuke answers readily, precisely, expressing his feelings and thoughts bluntly, as mere facts, without shame or embarrassment._

 _He was never asked anything about his past when he was in Konoha. Then he was too set on his goals to spend time talking about it._

 _Once Madara mentions that when he was sixteen he won a crucial battle against a neighboring clan. Noticing the younger's thoughtful look he said:_

" _I made it because I had my whole clan to back me up. I had my brother to support me. Your brother has been forced to kill everyone and run away, leaving you alone, and yet you have avenged him. You have been brave and strong, like a true Uchiha."_

 _Every time the elder mentions their clan, Sasuke, who stopped caring about it after being told the truth, even feels the same admiration towards he felt as a child, the same pride for being a part of it, even as the sole survivor._

 _Every time the elder mentions their clan, he, who stopped caring about it after being shunned by its people, pushes back the memories of the white and red fan on his dying brother's clothes. The kage bunshin killed by his best friend and rival wore that crest in his place, for the last time._

The elder replies to the question the boy has been thinking about since Itachi left him alone in that cave.

A village is a place where different clans unite their strengths and cooperate to achieve long-lasting peace.

A shinobi is the strongest soldier, trained to endure all sorts of hardships in order to protect the ones they swore allegiance.

These magnificent concepts animated him and Hashirama. Too bad that ideals can only function with ideal people, as real people distort them and use them to their own advantage.

In a village there are stronger and weaker parties. The weaker ones should support each other to counterbalance the majority, so that every voice is equally heard, but in reality they end up supporting the stronger ones thus suffocating minorities.

 _Just like it happened to him, silenced by the very people he brought together in the very village he founded._

To be completely loyal shinobi are discouraged from thinking independently. They become blind followers of corrupt leaders, enforcers of wrongful laws that they'll execute in the name of the village, while for the few ones still capable of reasoning with clarity their role becomes a trap.

 _Just like it happened to their clan, erased because of a corrupt evil man who used Itachi's loyalty as a justification and his love for Sasuke as a leverage._

Just as Madara expected his truthful words, devoid of any rhetoric, have a big impact on Sasuke.

" _I don't care about them," Sasuke replies once, to Madara's satisfaction, when asked if he ever thinks about leaving the Uchiha lands and fight alongside his comrades, to protect the village Itachi defended so strenuously._

 _His hate towards the village must be kept alive, not extinguished._

 _It's a precaution, should Itachi promote protecting Konoha again, once back._

 _It's a further precaution, for he wouldn't find what he expects anyway._

Madara assures Sasuke that he never planned the clan's extinction.

When he was younger and angrier he would have fought his clansmen indeed. A glorious battle, in the open, in daylight.

As he got older and his plan was taking shape he stopped thinking about them. The ones he loved were dead since decades, everyone else didn't matter.

When he threatened to destroy Konoha it was an act to motivate Hashirama to kill him; albeit for different reasons Itachi too orchestrated Sasuke's life so that he would kill him.

"It's different. My brother did it to save me. You did it to save yourself."

The boy replies, without mincing words, as always, especially when Itachi is mentioned.

 _Madara doesn't mind his rudeness. He likes it, in fact._

"From a different perspective both of us reacted to injustice in our own way. Just like you killing Danzo. Your brother saved you and sacrificed himself. I saved myself and envisioned a way to achieve peace and save more people in the future."

 _Using Itachi to fuel Sasuke's hate, at the same time elevating his position in the boy's eyes, to be seen as someone -the only one- he can relate to._

The elder hands Sasuke his falconry glove, to graciously dismiss him. The hawks need some exercise, just like the horses, he says, heading for the stables.

It's better to be alone while processing what he just learned, because those information, along with the trees and streams and ancient constructions, ghosts of the life of the Uchiha clan, could suggest what the boy's life could have been without injustice and death.

It's better for him to entrust his secret tears to the birds who won't judge him weak or childish.

"You are used to being the last Uchiha alive, but you're no longer alone."

Madara tells him, just about he's going out of the room, making sure the boy knows he won't judge him weak or childish either.

* * *

After three years with Orochimaru and months with Obito, who forgot him in a hideout when the war started, the boy learned to be patient. The Uchiha patriarch is a better company than both of them, and a better mentor, who doesn't treat him like a part of his collection, envisioning the time when he'd become an empty vessel, and he doesn't look down on him like a nuisance he can't get rid of because it would be disrespectful to Itachi's memory.

Nevertheless one day said patience grows thin.

During a solitary walk, passing through the trees, he is attacked by a flock of crows; as happened when he was chasing after Itachi in the woods.

"Itachi...brother..."

He whispers, his heart racing because this could be the day he can have his brother back.

The birds attack him one more time before he sees it: a young crow hopping on the ground, flapping its wings, trying to fly under the watchful eyes of its parents, perched on the nearest branches, ready to chase the intruder again.

It's only natural to confront Madara when he returns.

He is cultivating Itachi's cells with Sasuke's blood, the same process that he followed for Hashirama's statue. That statue wasn't sentient though; he didn't have Rinnegan back then, now things should be easier and faster.

"...Or maybe what you did to Anko was an elaborate genjutsu?"

He taunts the other even if he doesn't really thinks so. Despite having used them rarely he's an Uchiha, brother of the best genjutsu user, whose Tsukuyomi he managed to dispel. He knows how to defend himself from an illusion.

Madara listens attentively, arms crossed over his chest. Immortality and solitude endured for too long make him extremely patient, especially with someone whose reactions amuse him so much.

Yet he decides that it's better not to spoil the boy.

 _That it's time to fix a price._

He explains that Rinne Tensei needs a proper body to be effective. Anko's was still warm when he brought her back, just like Nagato's victims.

His brother's was not only dead since a long time; it had been scavenged without respect by the gloomy snake man, and before that by Obito, who took his eyes for Sasuke to be spared from inevitable blindness and activate Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Has Sasuke forgotten that? Does he want his beloved brother to return into a patched up body missing random parts?

Creating cells, then organs, then a whole human being takes time. He knows, what he's doing.

With the same technique he might bring back his brothers back, after. Repopulate the Uchiha land.

"I am doing you a favor, boy. I could think about myself and my own brothers, instead I'm working for you."

Madara feigns a dignified look that reminds him of Tobirama's entitled attitude.

"What are _you_ doing for me, instead?"

"Then let me do something!"

The boy cried out.

"Let me help."

* * *

In the past there was no Academy, no grades, no genin teams. According to the elder, the bond between student and teacher was special. It was him who chose his pupil, who left his family to live with him, growing up under his wing, constantly learning through studying, exercise and even menial tasks.

Knowing that his mentor was wiser it was natural for the disciple to trust him completely, even for the rare moments when, once grown up, the younger disagreed with him.

Since Sasuke wants to be involved in developing Itachi's body, Madara takes samples of his tissues and organs to add to his cultivation, starting from his eyes. Itachi's eyes.

The boy doesn't budge when told that each taking will hurt and that there will be no way of dulling the pain, or the samples will be polluted.

 _Madara likes to see Sasuke strapped by his ankles and wrists to the rudimentary operating table, agony written all over his face, muscles twitching as needles probe him._

 _When the spasms are too strong the elder climbs on the table and straddles his waist, strokes his shoulders and chest, to make him feel something other than the needles, speaking slowly and firmly so to reach to the boy's clouded mind. Focus on me, boy. Focus on my weight. Focus on my hands, can you feel them? He repeats, caressing him._

 _Sasuke endures the discomfort of being tied up and the pain, refusing any comfort or distraction at first, because he's not that weak, but there are times when his body can't help but cling to Madara's warm touch, while his mind projects Itachi's image before his eyes, until the commanding yet soothing voice of the imposing Uchiha replaces him, bringing him back to reality._

" _Now you understand why I didn't involve you, boy."_

 _He says every time it's over, hard eyes slightly softer, voice as low as a whisper, and Sasuke is too tired and weakened to do anything other than nod, and shake his head when asked if he wants to stop, to Madara's satisfaction._

 _He would hate to be denied that pleasure, now._

Knowing that he owed everything to his mentor it was natural for the disciple, once grown up, to give him everything he had in return. Especially his body, as a young life with unpolished skills doesn't have much else to offer.

Sasuke is not surprised when Madara suggests him how to prove his loyalty.

The old Uchiha is not surprised at the boy's lack of indignation.

He can tell that he knows how the world works, unlike Naruto, whose constant bragging about ninja way was closer to a childish tantrum than integrity.

Besides, for someone like Madara, never making compromises means lacking the willpower to achieve a goal.

 _He made a compromise when he first required Hashirama to kill his own brother then he stopped his friend before he could decide._

 _He made a compromise when he didn't punish the clansmen who didn't support him as Hokage._

 _He made a compromise when he didn't kill Hashirama, bestowing him a long fulfilling life, once that Izanagi rewrote his reality. Future peace was more important than his pride, he used to think._

For Sasuke it's the same: achieving his goal has always been the most important thing, no matter how he did it, no matter what price he had to pay.

That's why Madara chose him, he says. The strongest mentor always chose the strongest pupil.

"Then get on your knees."

 _It's time to play a different game._

He has been taken every kind of samples already, there is nothing he can do to help with the growth of Itachi's body. He can only be grateful to his mentor and benefactor.

He can _only_ help him with _everything else_.

"Now pleasure me."

 _How interesting, for Madara, that the young Uchiha submitted first, obeying to his command, and defied him later, threatening him with a glare as he's on his knees._

"...and prove that you truly are the last Uchiha. Show me your gratitude and your determination. Show me how strong is the willpower that makes you different from the ones you left behind, because you couldn't become as strong as you needed, and achieve your goal, amongst them."

Madara's words strike the right chord once again.

" _You are talented, boy," the elder told him once, "You must be tired of hearing people say it."_

" _I don't care about weak people."_

 _Sasuke replied, half arrogant and proud of his ability, half naive because he admitted that he valued the man's opinion. He didn't seem to care. He was thinking about someone else already._

" _Itachi did...He said I have become strong."_

 _He didn't mention his father instead._

 _Madara is not surprised; even before becoming an orphan the boy must have been ignored in favor of his older brother. It wasn't strange for him, who was born in times of war, when fathers trained their firstborn sons more thoroughly, for they would have guided the clan._

Sasuke needs to have Itachi back, just like he needed to become stronger back then.

Refusing is not an option. He never cared about others' opinion of him anyway, or about morals; to him, just like Madara, both are just self-imposed limitations, excuses that weak people use to justify their lack of determination.

Besides, he already did questionable things. He witnessed Orochimaru's experiments, never torturing or killing anyone but never helping them either, for his goal was more important than anything and anyone, even though there were nights that he couldn't sleep because of the screams coming from their cells.

Kabuto used to scold his lack of respect for the sannin but other than his language and his detached attitude the boy obeyed to everything he was told, well knowing that he had no other choice if he wanted to acquire the strength to defeat Itachi.

Karin and Suigetsu used to joke about their former master. It was their way of downplaying their past.

Once they mentioned him as his _favourite_ ; the undertones were clear. When Sasuke eyed them icily they apologized. They were just curious, Suigetsu said, since he had a better treatment compared to everyone else.

 _No one really envied someone destined to become the scientist's new body, yet before that happened everyone did envy Sasuke because he wasn't locked in a tank or in a dark cell or surrounded by prisoners ready to slaughter him, not caring that their guardian was a victim too._

Karin added that there was nothing to be ashamed of. It was a well-known fact that their former master liked to mark his younger and most attractive property, before experimenting on them.

Even Juugo nodded. He too, and Kimimaro.

After a long silence Sasuke admitted that he was asked to touch him.

His refusal angered the sannin who gave him a good beating. When Kabuto came to heal him, he said that if he didn't do what Orochimaru wanted he would be imprisoned until his body would become the sannin's vessel, without a chance to find his brother, so when the man asked again he obeyed.

He didn't have to do much; the snake guided his hands. He didn't trust the boy's angry mouth, and he didn't like his impassive expression. Hoping for something more exciting from such pretty boy, the disappointment was so strong that it never happened again.

Sasuke wonders where his comrades might be. Once again he left everything and everyone behind to achieve his goal.

He reassures himself that he won't think about them anymore once he'll have Itachi back.

He explains himself that he only thought about them because he remembered their inappropriate jokes.

How could they even joke about such things?

He feels vulnerable at first, being on his knees before the older man who opens his mouth with two fingers and instructing him to lick them, but Madara's tone, just like his demeanor, isn't different from when they spar.

 _He makes it seem more like a new jutsu to learn, than a degrading act._

He's demanding and nonchalant at the same time, even when he pulls his length out and commands the boy to lick the tip then swirl his tongue over it.

His calm is warm, just like his skin; he says good, good boy, I knew it, you learn fast, I knew you had the Uchiha determination in you, as he runs his fingers through his hair.

 _Why does Sasuke think about his father and his cold, uninterested calm? Fugaku never said he was good at anything, no matter how hard he studied and trained._

 _Maybe it was because despite his good grades he didn't learn as fast as he does now._

It's just a brief thought in the back of his mind though, for his ears are overflowing with Madara's voice and his skull is locked under the elder's long fingers and his mouth is full with Madara's cock pushing deeper and deeper.

Karin said she used to feel dirty and ashamed after she did _that thing_ to Orochimaru.

Sasuke doesn't. He's not ashamed of doing what he has to do, to bring his brother back.

Besides, he should care about himself to feel that way.

* * *

Sasuke remembers team Taka again the second time Madara demands the same _display of gratitude_.

 _From the third time on he doesn't think about them anymore._

They are laying on the grass. The elder told him about the ancient gods the clan used to worship before they adopted the Will of Fire. Traces of their old religion could be found in their names.

 _Except for Sasuke's, named after the Third Hokage, as if he was destined to be separated from them._

Madara stands up, takes a few steps then returns, his feet at sasuke's sides, looming over him, breeze sweeping his long messy hair.

Without a word he kneels, thighs brushing Sasuke's waist. His look, demanding yet dispassionate, is eloquent enough for him to know what he wants.

" _It's not bad if you do it to someone you love," Juugo said, to everyone's stupor._

" _It's amazing, in fact._ _You are the one who gives them pleasure. You are the only one who sees them in a way they won't show to anyone else."_

Sasuke wonders what it would be like to do it _someone else_.

It's just a brief thought in the back of his mind, before he props himself on his elbows and drives himself to focus on the task, because bringing Itachi back is the only thing that matters. He can't have Madara go back on his word because of his negligence, even though the elder is praising his newly acquired skills. Just like he would if they were sparring.

 _That's my boy, yes, good boy, Madara keeps saying every time his mouth takes him deep and Sasuke can't help but think about his father again, no matter how different the context is, because those are the words that Fugaku only told him once._

Madara likes Sasuke, a creature full of contrasts.

He likes his determination, his lack of moral inhibitions to achieve his goal, the same willpower that turned him into an immortal, the strongest of this era.

 _Sasuke's persistence and disregard of common morality are even stronger than Madara's._

 _He spared Izuna's killer because he was his best friend's brother. Obito and the very brother he wanted to avenge, indirectly, stopped him from killing his friend, who represented everything Konoha stood for._

He likes his confusion, bridled with aloofness, because he knows orders and he knows compliments but he doesn't know them together.

He likes his rude and disrespectful mouth, that he trained to pleasure him.

" _You're taking advantage of this, aren't you?"_

 _He says sometimes, before submitting to Madara's desire, and the elder smirks because he has a reason to punish his lack of respect and he enjoys that._

He likes the curve of his pale neck, arched backwards under his punishing grip, and his guttural moans -sometimes he can't tell if they're moans of pleasure or pain and that fascinates him- when he touches him.

 _Madara shows him what pleasure feels like; having him focus only on his long term prize would be boring._

 _After a sparring session he lays Sasuke on the bed to apply his usual balm on his bruises, only this time he lies beside him. He takes control of his pale chest, getting closer with each touch until he's almost on top of him, paying particular attention to his nipples, that he teases and pinches, until the boy arches his back, gasping._

 _Madara can feel him hardening under him; he rubs it with his muscular thighs, as he licks and bites his pale throat for the first time. When he frees Sasuke's length and strokes it, slowly at first, then faster and firmer, the boy bites his arm, muffling his moans._

 _It's a shame that he doesn't like to be vocal, Madara thinks, anticipating the moment that he will make him scream._

He likes his young pliable body, that he bends and stretches to impossible angles just to enjoy the view before taking him.

 _Madara takes his time before fucking the boy._

 _There's no rush, and there are a lot of things the younger can learn before that._

 _When the time comes he gives Sasuke the same advice he gave for fighting, to focus on sensations, no matter if it's pain or pleasure, because each sensation is a proof that he is alive. That both are._

 _Being penetrated hurts more than the boy would have imagined; only thinking about the time he'll have his brother back makes it bearable._

 _The elder knows, that's why he makes it harder for him to dream of the future. He brings him back to the present moment by pounding him harder and harder._

Madara likes Sasuke indeed and he likes their relationship, so different from every other.

It's not like having a lover, who would demand more.

It's not like having a whore, who would be servile and aware of the intricacies of sex.

It's not like having a slave, who would be afraid of him.

It's more like having a son, an apprentice, a little brother all at once.

 _It's more like having a pet._

* * *

In the meantime, outside the Uchiha hidden territory, Sasuke threatened to destroy the old corrupt world and build a new one. He fought against Naruto, offering his life to his late brother, role model and ideal of what a real Hogake should be, only to be defeated and unexpectedly change his mind because of the other's words.

 _Nobody understood that the one who fought Naruto was not Sasuke but a Zetsu, with a copy of Madara's Rinnegan, who didn't care about any brother, who didn't care about being Hokage and changing the world, who didn't listen to a single word his opponent said because his only purpose was fulfilling the mission he was assigned._

The shinobi who left Konoha to walk a path of revenge returned only to leave it soon, on a journey of redemption, as suggested by Kakashi Hatake, who accepted to become Hokage to honor his friend, Obito, died in battle, fighting by his side. As Sasuke is about to leave, a woman asks him to come along, rejected.

 _Nobody understood that the one who smiled and poked Sakura's forehead was not Sasuke but a Zetsu, with a copy of Madara's Rinnegan. Not even her, because somehow, the creature who plays the role of her childhood crush treats her more gently than the original ever did, thus fueling her hopes for a future together._

Zetsu is good at acting indeed, but he can't stay in Konoha for long periods.

He needs to be alone so he can be himself.

He needs to connect with his fellow other Zetsu and to meet his maker.

He needs to feed, not the useless human food he ingested so far but what carnivore plants feed on: humans. His instinct tells him that there is plenty of travellers on the way to the Uchiha territory.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 ** _One of the most satisfying things for me is to come up with the perfect scenario for a rare ship to happen._**

 ** _Here Sasuke has been left by Itachi, the questions he started to develop, that later would be answered by the past Kage, have been answered by Madara instead, so he is still in a "destroy Konoha" mode. No rebuilding it. He just hates them for what they did to Itachi and took Madara's side who promised to bring Itachi back._**

 ** _Unlike Orochimaru, who soon told Sasuke that he wanted his body as a vessel, Madara didn't say anything. He just let things evolve, Sasuke's trust evolve as well, before demanding something. His manipulation is smarter. There is a sort of affection too, anyway, because Sasuke is an Uchiha like him. Also, Madara is now immortal, so his priorities changed. His curiosity is more important now, his amusement even. He still wants peace and so on, but he is also a sort of trickster. I loved writing him. I reread the old manga chapters and he's definitely my favourite Naruto villain. He's really charming._**

 ** _It is said that his hobby was falconry, and Sasuke likes animals and has a summon hawk so they surely would bond over them. And other things, because Sasuke respects strength and Madara's going by his own rules. He goes by his own rules too._**

 ** _I think that Sasuke would do anything for Itachi. He was willing to give up his body to Orochimaru to defeat him, to have him back he would do even more. Also, I don't think that he would be ashamed or shy, he would do whatever it takes, as a task to be completed. Here he is mentally unstable and his "daddy issues" come to surface unexpected. Because yes, I think he has daddy issues._**

 ** _And he's masochistic, not like he actively seeks pain or is an emo or anything like_** _ **that, he's too pure for all that, but I think that his pain tolerance is higher than average. Not to mention physical pain is a way to numb the real inner pain he feels, just to name a few reasons. It's my own interpretation, I don't mean to impose it and I don't accept anyone saying it's wrong, being this a fanfiction.**_

 _ **Speaking of daddy issues again, Madara's canon quote when he stabbed Sasuke**_ ** _"In order to protect something one must sacrifice something else. Be it a friend, sibling or even my own child" takes a new layer of meaning here, I guess._**

 ** _Also, there is some anti-ending in this fic. I can't help but think of alternate universes where canon has an explanation. This is one. I am a sci-fi fan and my favourite movies/books are those where reality itself is questioned because there are parallel universes/different timelines overlapping/ different realities/reality is just a projection or anything similar. I wrote about something similar for my fic In Dreams, this is another attempt._**

 ** _(Oh, I implied Orosasu. It's almost canon for me. Like DanzoxItachi happening at least once. That was the subject of my fic The Will of Fire)_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Warning: nothing that wasn't on chapter 2. dub-con (but also not), manipulation (but also not), daddy issues, anti-ending.**_

 _ **Please read the end notes.**_

* * *

 _"Take my hand, I'll be everything to you_

 _Take my hand, I'll take everything from you" (AFI, The Lost Souls)_

* * *

In Madara's times children were told a story about the origins of their clan.

They used to live in a beautiful fertile land where they had big houses, large fields and many animals. They didn't know war, and their lives were long and happy. Until some of them got bored and restless and decided to test the limits of their innate abilities. They wore their battle armors, left their lands and joined war after war, hired by feudal lords as mercenaries, fighting other mercenaries hired by other feudal lords.

Rejoicing at the news of their victories, their wives, parents and offspring waited and waited the warriors for months, years, decades, but they showed no signs of returning. Thus they decided to leave their safe haven and join them, even if it meant hardships, danger and death.

They preferred to die beside their loved ones instead of living a long life without them.

Nevertheless hoping return all together one day, the elders united their power to create the most powerful genjutsu ever existed and make their territory disappear.

Their seals not being as good as the Uzumaki clan, they used Izanagi to rewrite reality, turning their luxuriant nature into a desert, their animals into skulls and bones shattered on the ground, their lake into a dust-blowing wind that screamed death at every step, for every traveller who didn't know the right hand seals.

The Infinite Tsukuyomi, using the moon as a mirror, would have been even more powerful, had he carried on his plan.

 _Maybe he will someday, he tells himself at times, but it's nothing more than an afterthought, as expected from an immortal, with godlike powers, who found something more interesting to do._

Madara used to like this story, like every children, especially Izuna, who was once scolded from their father because he asked when they'd return there. Regretfully the elder had explained him that it was just a fairytale. They weren't playing warriors because they were bored, they were fighting for survival.

 _They were fighting for the supremacy of their clan, but it was better to save this detail for later, with the resolve to build their own world, not search for an old one._

He would have never imagined to find the legendary land, when, already old, he was looking for the right candidate to implant his Rinnegan.

Overwhelmed by nostalgia of his younger brother, weighed by his aged body, his exploration was brief, and only when he returned in his hideout, sitting on the Gedo Mazo, it continued through Zetsu's eyes.

 _He would have never imagined that he would return there._

 _He had other plans back then, and no time left._

When he returned with Sasuke everything was vaguely familiar, from the woods and the lake to the animals, the only inhabitants of this land for centuries.

 _Sasuke had the impression that the animals recognized Madara, even though the elder had been there more than a decade earlier. Then he remembered Juugo's words, who once said that animals were naturally attracted to strong chakra._

Unlike nature, human built structures -houses, a temple with an annexed rudimentary medical office, a training ground, a hot spring, stables- need maintenance, nothing that a Zetsu, modified to use wood style jutsu, can't accomplish.

The two Uchiha settle in what was the clan leader's mansion, a three-story wooden house whose most prominent feature is the big roof with eaves that curve slightly upwards.

Instead of the typical tatami pavement there are smooth wooden planks under their feet, and instead of sliding panels, the many rooms are separated by wooden walls, of a dark brown shade, instead of rice paper, even the doors are made of wood.

The Zetsu who assimilated Kabuto's medical ability settles in the basement, together with the other Zetsu. Other than the one who heals his wounds and another who asks absurd questions about bodily functions, Sasuke can't tell them apart. Only the ones Madara bestowed a stronger power evolve and acquire an individual personality. The others, who come and go without advice, in the house and outside the sealed territory, are just parts of the hive.

 _They're Madara's eyes and ears. Just like the one who impersonates Sasuke._

In the main room there is an open fireplace, a sunken hearth, with a hook for heating pots hanging above it. A few paintings decorate the upper part of the dark wooden walls, while several drawers, some of which displaying valuable weapons, occupy the lower part.

On the ground there's a fur rug, a huge, dark, hairy thing that Sasuke hates with a passion.

He wanted Madara to get rid of it but the elder argued that throwing it away would be disrespectful towards the sacrificed animal.

Furthermore, Madara likes to see the contrast between Sasuke's pale skin and the dark fur.

He loves to fuck him on it.

 _After a while, Sasuke doesn't hate that animal skin anymore._

 _He can clench his fists around the strands of hair when Madara's thrusts are so hard that he loses control of his own body, as if he were just a doll in his hands._

 _He can hide his face in the dark fur, and with it the shame, because a part of him doesn't dislike that._

As both men haven't lived in a real house for a long time, it takes a while for them to realize that they need basic items; when they do, they start searching for them in the other houses, an activity that soon becomes as habitual as walking under the trees, sparring, grooming the horses, flying the hawks, touching or being touched.

They take home a low table, to comfortably eat and read.

 _Madara reading old scrolls at the table reminds Sasuke of his father._

 _Compared to Fugaku's, the elder's appearance is more striking, taller, more muscular, with big wild hair that the boy imagines are what his own hair would look like if grown long._

 _Even their attitudes are completely different so he doesn't know why whenever the older man is reading by that low table, Sasuke feels that he owes him something._

 _Madara, who never had children, notices._

 _He doesn't know how to feel about it. He doesn't know how to treat a son._

 _He only knows how he wants to treat this twisted version of a son, whose obedience he appreciates very much._

Surprisingly, Sasuke doesn't mind examining mementos of the past, from common objects that explain old habits and customs, to drawings and poetry, that show a side of the Uchiha clan that he and Madara had never witnessed.

 _They ask themselves how different things would have been if the clan had never left this land: Izuna and Madara's younger brothers would have never died. They would have married, had children, and peacefully died of old age. Itachi would still be alive. Shisui would still be alive, and with him Sasuke's mother and father, and everyone he ever saw at the compound._

 _Then Madara sighs:_

" _Or maybe, you and Itachi him wouldn't even be born in the same family. Maybe Izuna and I wouldn't have been brothers either. Maybe some of us wouldn't even be born at all. Maybe we're all born because the clan moved far from here. Maybe we're all born because of war."_

 _They are what they are because of war._

 _They want peace because war took everything from them._

They discover quirks and aversions by observing what the other chooses or discards.

Like Madara's fondness for pillows, that he collects in great quantity, and places them under the table, on the wooden pavement and more or less everywhere else.

 _His many little brothers slept on the low pillows where adults used to sit, as they were the most comfortable thing they had, during his war-torn childhood._

Both judge the old clothes they find useful to stay warm in winter, but not practical for shinobi with a fast, dynamic fighting style such as them.

 _Sasuke hates the itchy fabric that seems to weigh him down; Madara hates the too many buttons that slow him down as he undresses, and especially as he undresses the other._

Sasuke insists on using the same bowl for rice, even if its border is chipped and they find many others. Madara teasingly him Little Tengu whenever they eat, reminding that according to folklore the mythical creatures are obsessively attached to their favourite bowl.

 _Sasuke's mother used a bowl with similar geometrical patterns to place offerings in their family altar._

Whenever Sasuke doesn't understand an object's purpose he asks Madara.

 _How old exactly do you think I am, Madara scoffs once, as his era was closer to Sasuke's. Besides, because of the war and the hardships they only had what was strictly necessary, thus he ignores the use of many objects._

 _He knows that his descendant asks him out of respect and truth in his strength and knowledge though._

 _He's a youngster asking his mentor. Or his father._

Interestingly, Sasuke's questions help him discover a new ability: just by touching something he can sense its memory, something that he didn't even know existed.

He doesn't use it much anyway, since instantly knowing isn't as satisfying as guessing, inquiring, recalling, for an immortal like him.

 _Madara never cared about traditions. To him the past was a burden and the present an obstacle. Only the future mattered._

 _Now that present, past and future are just points on an infinite line, he reconsiders the past -parts of it, some wounds never really heal- as a source of identity, experience and now of commodities; he enjoys the present as an amusing game and he redefines the future, no longer a destination at the end of the line, but just another point amongst many others, that will become present then past, because the infinite line is, in fact, a circle._

 _A spiral, maybe._

Just like the houses and clothes, the old language too is quite different. Sasuke can barely grasp the general sense, while Madara understands it better, because when he was a child the older generation used to talk in a similar way on the battlefield, or whenever they suspected that someone was spying on them.

Hidden in one of the pillows that Madara brings home, they find a lump, that turns out to be letters stacked together and folded in one small piece.

The two Uchiha spend the night reading them, Madara sitting cross-legged, occasionally smoking from a thin pipe, Sasuke beside him, slightly hunched, resting one elbow on an upright knee, the firelight coming from the fireplace and countless candles dancing around them.

It's a correspondence between secret lovers, that reminds Sasuke of the excerpts from Kakashi's books, that the jounin used to read out loud whenever he trained him and the rest of Team 7.

After his initial sneering Sasuke becomes almost curious.

Maybe it's because Madara's husky voice doesn't emphasize anything, besides pausing from time to time, to find the right translation.

 _One of Kakashi's favourite novels was written as a correspondence between the main characters._

 _Sasuke remembers how bored he was when his former sensei declaimed it, while Naruto laughed and Sakura asked questions about it._

 _Thusly distracted, he had almost felt at peace, even though it didn't last._

 _He had a goal, he wasn't supposed to waste time on trivialities, he thought._

 _Even now he has a goal. Even now he must wait._

 _This time is different though, for Madara promised to bring Itachi back for him._

 _He promised that he wouldn't be alone._

 _He didn't say it and Sasuke didn't ask for it, but spending time by the fireplace, reading stupid letters, makes him feel at peace, then guilty, because he still shouldn't waste time on trivialities._

The letters are vague at first, as if the couple was scared of saying too much, then they become more intense, a sign that they were living the love. Some letters mention sex, although in a flowery way, others are prayers, for him, to not leave for the battlefield, for her, to not marry the man her father chose. In the last one the man sarcastically wishes her good luck: she will need it when her husband will find out that she is not pure.

Weak resolve, spite, greed: humanity has always been miserable - _Just like his clan, then Konoha, against him_ \- the elder mutters, throwing the papers in the fire.

"What do you think the woman's husband did when he found out?"

He asks, one hand holding the pipe, the other tucked into a dark robe, very similar to a yukata, loosely wrapped on one side, leaving his muscular chest open.

"How would I know?" Sasuke replies, distractedly fumbling with the hem of his pants "Why is it even that important, that purity thing?"

"It's a civilian influenced value, to ensure that a man would only provide to his own offspring and not someone else's. For chakra users, and doujutsu users in particular, it's redundant. It's hypocritical to take only what's convenient, such as defining purity as being untouched by sex, and overlooking killing, a shinobi's duty since an early age. It's pointless, because there's no point in keeping one's purity intact if death might claim any shinobi before a lover does."

Madara's hands draw elaborate gestures in the air as he speaks.

"Nevertheless there is something else in it. Something more. Something beyond a mere question of providing for one's offspring or a faulty appropriation of values. Something more irrational and primal than any practical reason."

He locks eyes with the boy.

"Being the first to take a young, attractive partner is immensely satisfying, because it's seen as marking them forever. Men are drawn towards purity because they want to claim and defile it themselves."

When he breaks eye contact, Sasuke focuses his attention on Madara's long, strong fingers flowing with his voice.

"Consequently, the idea that their loved one had previous experiences is hard to accept for some, because it's like they're already marked. They see them as objects, both whether they are disappointed that their partner is a defective, used item instead of a shiny new one, and whether they put them on a pedestal to preserve their purity. Whether they're admiring them or judging them they're still see them as objects. They see them as objects, if they keep them away from reality to protect them, because they're not sharing anything with them."

Madara blows out a puff of smoke, with a relaxed sigh.

 _Sasuke's look darkens at Madara's words. He's sure that the elder hinted at Itachi on purpose, and he's also sure that if he reacts there will be consequences._

 _The last time the elder refused to enter in his lab for days, not allowing Sasuke inside either._

 _He can't allow this again, he tells himself, tightening a fist around his ankle._

 _Besides, maybe it's the awareness that achieving his goal is more important than any word, maybe it's the lights and shadows' dancing upon the man's powerful body, but he calms down._

 _Maybe a part of him has been rewired, somehow, to please the one who promised to bring his brother back, who replaced the teacher who cared about the village more than about him, the mentor who wanted his body and powers only because he was an easy prey, the father who preferred his brother to him._

"What about you?"

He asks.

 _Does he really care to know? Or is he trying to shake the bad feelings off?_

"As irrational as it may be, I'm not immune to the exhilarating sense of power of being the first to take _someone_..."

Madara's dark tone that says more than his words.

 _Taking your virginity made me feel stronger, as if I acquired a new power. I took your body for myself, and no matter what will happen in the future -as if I weren't the master of your future- I'll always be your first._

"..to take someone _for real_ , I mean."

More gently than he intended, he touches the spot where Sasuke's curse mark used to be.

 _His ability to sense inanimate objects' residual memory works also with body parts: the boy's chest Madara remembers the Hachibi vessel's swords almost killing him, his left arm his female comrade getting too close. His throat his brother threateningly looming over him, his forehead the same brother smiling lovingly at him._

 _The former curse mark area remembers a man with greyish skin, an effeminate voice and an abnormal tongue._

Even if there is no trace of it, for a moment Sasuke feels his skin throbbing, like a phantom limb, and a reminder that Itachi used his very last moments of life to free him, from the curse mark and everything it meant.

 _He wonders what Itachi would think of him if he knew what Orochimaru had wanted from him._

 _He wonders if Itachi would be less disappointed knowing that it only happened once._

 _The sannin preferred to watch as he touched himself. As if he could ever do such thing, without being injected him something that would make his skin feel sensitive and feverish, craving for release, no matter who was watching him._

" _Have you ever done this before?"_

 _Madara asked him once, laying down on the ground naked, like the boy who had just pleasured him with his mouth, his lower lip still bearing a pearly trace of the elder's release, and a glare that promised no answers._

 _The older Uchiha stroked the juncture between his neck and shoulders, activating his power. He saw Orochimaru's sinister figure too close to a very young Sasuke, commanding to move his hands faster._

" _Not this particular practice.."_

 _Madara felt relieved, because that monster didn't get more than that -he decided to ignore the injections whose prickling sensations and whose consequences he sensed very well, just like he sensed the snake's eyes- which meant that Sasuke's body was completely his._

 _And because Sasuke never looked at him with anger and disgust, as he did to his old mentor._

" _...And not willingly.."_

 _The boy kept glaring, not ashamed but determined._

 _The older Uchiha knew that look well. His era was a tough one._

" _I understand. You had no other choice."_

 _Still no reply._

" _You had no choice and a goal to achieve...killing your brother."_

 _Sometimes Madara tested Sasuke's limits. It was only fair, mentors used to do it all the time._

" _The brother who lied to you and left you alone..."_

 _Although he already knew that the boy had only one._

" _Don't talk about my brother this way! He saved my life!"_

 _Sasuke hissed, sharingan spinning wildly, as he sprang forward and straddled Madara, clenching his hands around his throat._

 _The elder was pleased by the boy's fast reaction. So much that he got hard again. So much that he couldn't help but grind against the lithe body._

" _Very good...You got better at taking me by surprise."_

 _Madara said, voice strained under Sasuke's grip._

" _I knew it since I first sensed your chakra in the distance, that you were worthy of my interest..."_

 _He added. Sasuke smirked unwillingly, but that expression only lasted until Madara flipped their positions._

" _But you still have a lot to learn, boy…"_

 _The elder smirked too._

" _And I have a lot to teach you..."_

 _The man's hard cock brushed the boy's hole. Disrespect wasn't tolerated by any mentor._

" _If you behave respectfully, that is."_

 _He entered in one swift thrust. It was his turn to take the other's breath away._

Sasuke inhales deeply.

"No matter how strong we are, there always comes a time, boy," Madara says, sensing his discomfort, "that we must submit. Be it for survival, for love, for achieving a goal or to submit to a stronger one..."

"Did you..?"

Sasuke mutters, shaking off Orochimaru's memory.

"Like I said, everyone submits. They don't have a choice, when they're young and there's a war raging on. But it's a strong push to make them stronger."

Madara's expression mirrors Sasuke's. Determined, not ashamed.

"And then, when I became the strongest in my clan, I submitted to the one I respected and admired, the god of all shinobi."

 _Thinking about it, Hashirama left him no choice either, when, years later, he chose the village over him._

* * *

Madara likes to hear about Itachi, although he prefers to hear Sasuke talking about him.

 _Sasuke's eyes brighten when he talks about Itachi, in a way that is endearing and frustrating at the same time. Madara is amused to acknowledge his slight jealousy, another primal human reaction, unbecoming for an immortal god._

Thus he often asks about Itachi's ideals, his shinobi life, his relationships.

Never forgetting to mention how perfect his brother was, the boy readily obliges, describing everything he remembers.

 _And when he thinks it's not enough he accesses Itachi's memories, passed on to him before he left._ Madara defined Itachi an astounding shinobi. He recognized his genius, that allowed him to find Obito, use his grudge to carry on his mission and keep an eye on him until his death, preventing him from destroying the village and approaching his brother. He applauded his love for Sasuke, stronger than the love for his family, the village and himself.

Yet he frowned on how he left Sasuke behind, lying to him for years, focusing his hate against himself instead of the real enemies. He objected how instead of telling his brother the truth and treating him with the respect and dignity he deserved, took away from him the chance to fight back and have a proper revenge. He disapproved how he put the boy on a pedestal so not to taint him, not realizing that he was putting him under glass, as if he were too weak to handle reality.

From an older brother perspective he understood Itachi. He wanted Sasuke to be safe, exactly what he had felt towards Izuna.

Many times he had tried to keep Izuna away from the battlefield, especially when their father died and he became the clan leader, but his brother didn't take it well. In fact, he angrily confronted him, accusing him of belittling his strength, of not trusting him, of not considering him worthy to be his comrade in arms. He, instead, considered a privilege to be his younger brother and an honour to fight beside him.

Thus Madara understood. Although with sadness, he acknowledged that Izuna was a capable shinobi like him. He could protect him on the battlefield but he couldn't force him out of it.

 _Nevertheless when Izuna was fatally wounded he had regretted to have listened to his him, instead of keeping him safe, away from any fight._

 _Living with Sasuke, whom Itachi had kept away from any conflict, opened Madara's mind on a different perspective. The boy was sad and lost without the brother who defined his very sense of self. He would have certainly preferred to stay with Itachi no matter where, matter under which flag or against which enemies._

* * *

The setting sun colors everything with its orange-red shades, even the green of the grass and trees in the training ground, even the skin of the two Uchiha.

As usual Madara hasn't held back: his last kick probably caused some internal damage, he muses,his arms crossed over his bare chest, mesmerized by the lithe body doubling over, blood spilling between his fingers, locked to his lips.

With an apologetic look he stretches out a hand to help the boy get up on his feet.

There is neither pity nor mockery in his gesture. He admires his pain tolerance _-in fact he's addicted to it._

Favouring his injured side, Sasuke accepts his help with no resentment.

After Zetsu heals his wound Madara applies salve on his battered body.

 _He should be more delicate but certain things are addictive. like seeing his eyes squint as he bites his lip and tightens his fist, hearing him hiss under his breath, feeling him flinch under his strong hands._

 _Yet he doesn't want to hurt him too much._

 _He does care about his descendant, whom has become his pupil, the closest he has to a son, a pet, and almost, maybe, a lover._

 _Even if he is an immortal god, even if he can do anything, even if he can have anything and anyone, sometimes he feels that the boy, who is already there, beside him, with his desperation and anger, with his curiosity and independent thinking, with his purity and admiration, is everything he has, and everything he cares about._

"Tell me more about your brother."

He asks once the boy's breathing has evened out. At first puzzled by the vagueness of the question, Sasuke discloses random childhood episodes, how Itachi got him into collecting cat paws' prints, how he cooked too much food once when their parents went on a trip, how he carried him on his back after he sprained his ankle.

"He didn't want you to be in more pain. Sprained ankles take longer to recover if they get swollen," Madara intervenes, "I did the same for Izuna who sprained his ankle when we were hunting. It was getting dark, I couldn't leave him there. I carried him on my back all the way to the camp. Needless to say our hunt was fruitless and our father punished me when we returned. We really needed food."

 _That time, Madara knew his father was right in punishing him, as he was thinking about the good of the clan. Yet he knew that he was right as well, as he was protecting his brother. Thus he let the man take out his frustration on him, his resolve to keep Izuna safe unwavering._

It's the first time for both, sharing personal, precious episodes that have no informational value.

 _No one ever asked them anyway._

It feels strange somehow, but also good. Like a summer rain that washes away the muggy weather.

That's why it becomes a habit.

 _No matter in what activities they engage they're family, after all._

The pain that Madara felt when Izuna died was so strong and dark that to breathe and walk and fight again he had to focus on a goal, protecting the clan first, then achieving peace and building the Leaf village with Hashirama. Later he tried not to think about his brother, who distrusted the Senju clan, while he had signed a peace treaty with them instead of avenging him.

"Izuna was right"

The elder almost growls.

"I shouldn't have trusted Hashirama. I should have protected him. Instead, he gave me his eyes and saved me from blindness."

Sasuke's reply strikes him.

"Maybe he was glad to die if it meant giving you more power. Maybe he was happy knowing that his eyes would save you from blindness...I would die happily if by my death I could save Itachi's life." The boy admits candidly. Then, in a lower, darker tone, he adds:

"Instead, he sacrificed for my sake, even if he was smarter and stronger..."

 _Sasuke doesn't have to say it out loud. Madara clearly understands what he means._

" _Even if he deserved to live more than I do."_

 _He doesn't think he deserves to live, not only because he is the only survivor of the massacre, or because a part of him hasn't forgotten the words of contempt that Itachi was forced to tell him, but also because while Uchiha first sons were always favoured by their families, the others were often seen as disposable spares, for the time when Mangekyou Sharingan would take its toll._

 _Just like Madara's father preferred him to Izuna and the others, so did Fugaku prefer Itachi, and Sasuke always knew it, or he wouldn't feel guilty for being alive._

 _The elder Uchiha is glad that Itachi defied tradition and sacrificed for his little brother._

 _Despite being the firstborn, a prodigy in his generation, the strongest of the clan, an idealist who dreamed of peace and at the same time a shrewd strategist who wasn't afraid of dirtying his hands, he feels a stronger affinity for Sasuke, so similar to him yet so different, as he was a second son unlike him._

 _He definitely feels a stronger affinity with the boy who was stripped away from his roots, who listens to his stories with wide open eyes and a smart, inquisitive mind, who isn't afraid to ask for help or lose control._

"It's a heavy load, living a life that belonged to a precious one..."

Sasuke nods at Madara's statement.

 _After the massacre he wished that Itachi had killed him with everyone else._

 _After he was told the truth he wished that he had died during the final fight._

 _Death seemed the only peace he could have, for his sleep was plagued by nightmares._

The boy's onyx black eyes are unfocused, lost in his painful past.

Madara feels the urge to bring him back to the present moment, grabbing the broken boy's chin and kissing him hard.

 _Sasuke has mixed feelings about sex._

 _He's sure that he could live without it, just like he did until not so long ago -he can't seem to remember how long, exactly._

 _It hurts. Sometimes a lot, sometimes less, sometimes the pain becomes something else entirely._

 _Sometimes the pain remains and pleasure is but a part of it._

 _It's overwhelming. Like the strongest genjutsu, there's no way to ignore it, or counter it, as it envelopes his mind in a feverish haze and forces the body to move and open and give in._

 _It's distracting. At times Madara rewards him for his hard work -it doesn't matter if it's helping him out with something or pleasuring him- and when he runs his fingers through his hair and says the very words his father used to praise Itachi, and for once even him, Sasuke almost forgets reality._

 _So when Madara grabs his chin and kisses him, Sasuke lets him._

 _He lets Madara's tongue invade his mouth. He lets Madara's hands roam over his chest then push him down, one clawing at his wrist, holding it up above his head, the other going down to stroke him. He lets Madara's thigh part his legs and rest his weight on top of him._

 _He lets Madara manoeuvre him not only because he's used, by now, to the elder doing what he wants with his body, not only because it's the price to pay to have his brother back, but also because he's starved for contact._

 _Just like Madara._

* * *

"What if Itachi doesn't want to return?"

Madara murmurs almost absently, as they're walking by luxuriant fields of spontaneously growing tomatoes, eggplants, corn and more. In winter there will be potatoes and cabbages _-Sasuke's face brightened for an instant, thinking about Itachi's favourite food-_ as well, Zetsu said after having examined the underground.

In the distance crows are cawing.

"...After all, he already sacrificed his whole life for you..."

 _As if Sasuke could ever forget it._

"What if Izuna doesn't want to return?"

Sasuke promptly retorts, refusing to remember how hasty to leave the world Itachi was.

 _His brother wanted to rest, after all the pain he went through. After having sacrificed his whole life for him._

 _Maybe the first expression he'll see on his beloved brother will be anger._

 _Will his heart be able to bear it?_

"It it quite likely to happen."

Madara replies, almost casually.

"They might not want to return to the world of the living. Have you thought about that?"

Itachi said that a jutsu that forces the dead back to life is cruel for both the deceased, whose soul is ripped from where it belongs, and their relatives, forced to relive sad memories.

He also said that he had no more regrets, as he had protected the village once again.

He had purposely ignored that Sasuke was still alive, still longing for him, even moreso after having fought side by side with him, so that he would choose the living and not the dead ones.

"This is not the world they left. This...is different."

Sasuke mutters, more to himself than to Madara.

He's right. This is different indeed, the elder thinks to himself.

"What will you do when you'll have Itachi back?"

He asks abruptly. Just as abruptly, relieved to have something bright to focus on, Sasuke replies that he'll show him the beautiful surroundings. The moonlight reflecting on the lake. The crows' nests. The horses. These fields. That they might move to a smaller cabin by the woods once that Madara will have revived Izuna, as maybe the two brothers might want to bring back the other siblings.

 _Maybe more relatives. Who knows, maybe he could even want to revive Sasuke's parents, Madara once said, adding that the future was open to every possibility._

When he asks the elder the same question, Madara replies:

"I'll ask him forgiveness. For having failed to protect him. For having trusted the Senju clan instead of him. For having brought him back..."

* * *

In the back of the temple there is a rudimentary medical office that Madara transformed in his laboratory.

On one side of the room there are shelves full of test tubes, yellowed glass recipients and various instruments.

They're certainly old, the elder admits, but even though they could have Zetsu get newer ones _outside_ , he can do without them. After all he managed to cultivate Hashirama's cells and create Zetsu in an underground cave.

 _Neither Madara nor Sasuke feel like going outside. That world has nothing in store for them._

It's fitting somehow, to have a temple and a medical office in the same place. Even moreso because what Madara is doing is a combination of science, supernatural and faith: Edo Tensei being an imperfect jutsu and Itachi's corpse being too corrupted for Rinne Tensei, he must recreate Itachi's body using Sasuke's and Hashirama's cells, infusing them with his chakra, whose characteristics and powers are beyond the strongest shinobi's.

Sasuke's faith in him is necessary too, Madara tells the boy whenever he senses his patience growing thinner, even though the young Uchiha is rational and he knows that he can't go against him. _Especially not after he has been laying on the operation table for having his cells extracted from his eyes, as usual. When it's over he's never in the mood for strongly objecting anything, the pain in his head is too persistent that he's barely able to stand up straight for a while._

On the opposite side of the room, the Gedo Mazo statue occupies the whole wall, its wooden ramifications, like tubes, reaching the temple, where there is a tall glass tank filled with a murky liquid, a mixture of nutrients and chakra accelerators.

"Itachi's cells cultivated with Hashirama's, are growing perfectly."

Madara states.

"It's better this way," he continues, well aware of Sasuke's disappointment for not being able to see anything through the liquid, "You want your brother, not a bunch of organs connected by veins, supported by bones and muscles. Your brother is more than the sum of his parts. You shall see him when the right time comes: the more transparent the liquid will become, the closer to completion Itachi's body will be."

 _Itachi's body, growing from single organs to full completion, is there: Sasuke thought that he would feel something, a hunch, like he felt when he followed the crows, that rainy day in the forest, not knowing what he was about to find and how it would change his life forever, yet running nevertheless._

 _Instead, he feels nothing, beside his own constant longing to see him again._

 _He feels nothing coming from that tank._

 _He feels nothing coming from his brother._

 _He feels nothing because he's not there._

 _He feels nothing because in that tank there are a bunch of random organs that look nowhere close to his brother._

"Do you need to take more cells from my eyes? _Whatever_ you need...take it."

Sasuke says, his voice almost a plead. Madara puts a hand on his shoulder, like a mentor, like a father would.

"Sasuke. You have to wait. What I need...what your brother needs, is more time."

"How much time are you talking about?"

The boy interrupts him, heading towards the coat rack to grab his shirt.

Madara likes his feisty attitude. He knows how to calm him, the hard way or the easy way.

He also knows which one to use on every occasion.

 _Like a good mentor. Like a good father. Like a good master._

The elder disappears for an instant, only to reappear behind Sasuke.

"You should have understood it by now. Time has no longer meaning…"

Grabbing a fistful of his hair, he yanks his head back, exposing his throat.

"Besides…"

With the other hand he grips his wrist and pulls him closer, throwing him slightly off balance. His muscular chest blocking his fall, Madara guides him backwards, only stopping when his back reaches the operation table.

His lips brush the boy's ear, his warm breath makes him tingle.

"You should have understood that I do appreciate a fast pace for _certain matters_..."

He gets on the table, pulling Sasuke up on his lap.

"...But there are other matters that can't be done quickly."

He lies down, not bothering to suppress a shiver as his skin touches the cold metal, dragging Sasuke with him. The boy resists a little, not knowing what to expect.

 _Just the way Madara likes it._

"Like what's happening in that tank. Like you..."

Madara intertwines his legs with Sasuke's to spread them open.

"You can slow down now."

He lets go of the younger's arm. His hands roam over the taut body, one pinching his nipple, the other gripping his hip and pushing it down against his crotch, as he starts grinding.

"No one is chasing after you."

He unfastens the boy's pants and frees his cock. Sasuke's breath becomes hitched. "I will keep my promise and bring _him_ back to you."

Madara strokes it slowly, painfully so. The boy keeps his hands pressed against his forehead and bites his lip.

"But I want you to stop being anxious about _him_ and listen to me."

His teeth graze over Sasuke's neck.

"I want you to focus on yourself for once."

He bites the pale neck hard, and tightens the hold on his cock while moving in a steadier rhythm. Sasuke lets out a strangled cry, of pain or pleasure, or both.

"Because you, Uchiha Sasuke, you exist."

Madara pumps the boy faster, his hips grinding against his ass, his other hand stroking and scratching his stomach and chest and sides.

"Stop feeling guilty for being alive, boy."

The younger comes between loud uncontrolled moans; Madara moves from beneath Sasuke, taking in the pale body breathing heavily, his unfocused gaze and pearly streams over his stomach. He takes off his pants and climbs up on the table again.

"Stop reasoning in simple human terms."

He ravages the boy inside and outside, fucking him hard, biting and sucking and licking like a beast to a prey.

" _We're_ above them, now."

He says before climaxing, his eyes closed, letting out a feral growl, a few more thrust to ride out his orgasm.

Madara defeated death and achieved immortality. He's closer to a god than a simple human indeed.

 _Sasuke doesn't feel human, yet he doesn't feel something else either. He doesn't feel anything, when it comes to himself._

 _He identified as the Uchiha clan leader's son. The genius' little brother, with a long way to go before reaching him. The only survivor of the Uchiha clan. An avenger, against his brother, than against the real enemies, to be sacrificed to cleanse the name of the brother he devoted his life to._

 _He was identified as a younger brother, and a life to protect at all costs. A prodigy. A pupil. A comrade. The possessor of the precious sharingan. A rogue nin. An enemy. An asset._

 _What Madara meant is that he can't be just these things, there must be something about him that isn't inherent to his love for Itachi, but Sasuke can't find anything else inside him._

* * *

The Uchiha secret territory is above human terms as well. What was once a land obeying to the same laws as every other place on Earth, once sealed by the elders and hidden with their Izanagi, it turned into a legendary self-sufficient paradise, hidden from humans' eyes, where plants grow spontaneously, animals roam free, and time flows differently.

Time has no longer meaning; Madara said it.

 _The first thing Madara noticed when he set foot in this land was that despite the different architecture, and some materials that were disused in his present days, despite the houses and the temple and everything else were abandoned, they didn't seem to have been abandoned centuries before._

At first Sasuke thinks it's a wrong impression _-like the animals recognizing Madara-_ when the Zetsu who replaced him arrives from outside.

It's a surreal experience, to sit at the low table in front of himself.

 _It's not exactly your clone, Madara points out, but a Zetsu, with a copy of my Rinnegan, even though outside, he is Uchiha Sasuke._

He stares at his missing arm, wondering if he would have lost his arm too, had he fought that war.

 _He would give up to more than a limb for Itachi. He would give his own life for him, and he would die with a smile on his lips._

 _Would he sacrifice for Madara instead? Would he give more than his body to him?_

 _Isn't he giving him more than his body already?_

All Zetsu are Madara's eyes, ears and hands, they leave the sealed territory and roam the world, moving underground, absorbing information and passing them on to the others to whom they're in constant telepathic communication.

This Zetsu has been cut off from their network in order to be a more realistic human, but that communication is vital for his well-being, as the other Zetsu are parts of him and he is the other Zetsu as well. Thus he needs to stay away from Konoha as long as he can, to be a part of their network again. Especially after having been in jail.

He might have died in that cell, Zetsu-Sasuke admits, adding that he's going to stay away from that damn village for as long as he can, if Madara-sama allows him.

The elder Uchiha nods. He can do whatever he likes, as long as he keeps being Sasuke.

The second time Zetsu returns he is still identical to the real Sasuke, but at the same time he is different from him. He looks older.

Sasuke assumes that it's a result of living outside, surrounded by spineless cowards and selfish hypocrites who support a faulty oppressive system, but adding up Zetsu's older appearance, the lesser decay sustained by the inside structures and the animals recognizing Madara, Sasuke understands what Madara meant.

Inside the Uchiha sealed territory, time flows at a slower pace.

To him the encounter with Madara happened months ago, but outside it's been years.

Since then the shinobi world has lived in peace and prosperity, their system no longer questioned or threatened by enemies -Sasuke being one of them.

No one noticed that Sasuke is a Zetsu, even if he gave up to his very reason to exist, even if he stopped fighting to avenge his brother, even if he stopped demanding justice.

They assume that it's because he believes in Naruto.

 _No one objects that the blond hasn't done anything for him. They never object their leaders, effective or soon to be._

It boosts their egos to know that the rebellious prodigy who defied all authorities and chose a path of darkness, was tamed, that now he is in a lower position compared to Naruto, who defeated and convinced him to come back, and Kakashi, the new Hokage, who imprisoned him then let him out, on a journey of atonement for his sins.

They don't realize that _Sasuke_ was docile only because he couldn't wait to be one with the elements again, and communicate with his two-legged modified plant siblings.

Madara laughs bitterly at his old plan, using infinite Tsukuyomi on those unworthy, dense people who dare call themselves shinobi, when he achieved peace through the illusion of change.

People are afraid of change after all.

Only those who went through hell want to modify things, everyone else is content with what they have.

Instead, everyone loves little novelties and shiny objects, so small novelties and shiny objects they got.

Technology, tall buildings, different foods. A new, obedient Sasuke.

It doesn't matter if he's not the real one.

They don't even know the real one -his dreams, his soul, his resolve- for he never fought beside them.

The real one followed their enemy, who promised to bring Itachi back, and learned more about their world from him, than from any of them.

The real one willingly gave his cells to create a new vessel for Itachi, and his body to Madara, complying to his wishes like pupils did to mentors in the past.

The real one doesn't dislike what they do but he feels guilty every time he enjoys something, because he hates the fact that he's alive because of his beloved brother's sacrifice.

The real one can't wait to meet Itachi again but is afraid that he'll be angry when he'll return.

* * *

The real one doesn't know that Itachi's soul has already come back.

The real one doesn't know that Itachi's soul is lingering to the organs and tendons and veins growing day by day.

The real one doesn't know that Itachi's soul sees everything.

The real one doesn't know that Madara knows.

* * *

 _ **A/N: If this fanfiction were a tv series this chapter would be a season ending.**_

 _ **When I first envisioned and planned out this story, I planned beyond these current 3 chapters, but as I was writing them, more scenes, dialogues,snippets of Madara and Sasuke's new life came to my mind and I enjoyed what I saw so much, that I decided to keep the focus on it, instead of moving on.**_

 ** _Maybe I'm weird but I really enjoy, in a story or any kind of show, when the characters reach a sort of balance, and no new events happen, so there is time to expand their relationship. This balance doesn't last long, because a plot needs events to proceed, so when I really enjoy something I often stop watching/reading more of it for a while, and enjoy what is there, until I'm ready to read/watch more. This is what happened in this fic, somehow. I am enjoying so much imagining and describing Sasuke and Madara's bittersweet dialogues, their peculiar "routine" and their strange relationship, that I decided to focus on them and leave what will shake their balance for "season 2", whenever I'll be ready._**

 ** _Sasuke and Madara are the last Uchiha, living in a sealed territory, independent thinkers rejected by the shinobi system, souls who loved too much, too strongly. In this story their bond is supposed to be a dark, twisted one, certainly not replacing the love Sasuke feels for Itachi and Madara feels for Izuna. Yet what they have, what they reach, is not just a mutual benefit-sort of accord, and even their personal motives, just like their personalities, aren't black or white, instead they melt and mix and create different shades._**

 ** _Madara has become an all-powerful immortal god, he's having fun living with his descendant, manipulating him, observing him, having sex with him are interesting pasttimes, but he also cares about Sasuke, he's moved by his devotion and he's sorry about the neglect and pain he suffered so he tries, in his own way, to give him the affection and care that he needs and that neither Fugaku nor Kakashi gave him. (he even criticizes Itachi..needless to say, Madara's opinions are not mine)_**

 ** _Sasuke is a pure soul whose goals have always been connected to Itachi, and so is in this story, where he submitted to Orochimaru first, and now to Madara, to obtain what he wants, which is always Itachi. He submits to Madara for his goal, but he also admires the elder Uchiha and he respects him, unlike Orochimaru. Just like during Team 7 days, when he was almost living a normal life, before succumbing to guilt and haste to get his revenge, Sasuke feels at ease with Madara, but then he's torn by guilt and haste because he's living almost too well._**

 ** _He's also mentally unstable, because of all the pain he suffered, and_** ** _I imagine Sasuke as a masochist with a high pain tolerance, so Madara alternating sadism and care go well with the younger's passive attitude. Which, before someone objects, is not a negative trait. It's vulnerability and flexibility, and a habit to obey to his elders and superiors, as expected from a second Uchiha son who would have lived in Itachi's shadow. Also, yin and yang, passive is receptive, moon, cold, you know that sort of things._**

 ** _Both Sasuke and Madara are private and silent, but they're also blunt and honest, so I think that they would express feelings and talk about their memories, in the right context, unlike Itachi who's more mysterious and private._**

 ** _I once watched an anime called Tactics, about a young man who can see ghosts and spirits in Japanese folklore, and a Tengu he tames. This Tengu has a favourite bowl, a chipped gross thing that he loves very much. I was inspired by this for Sasuke's bowl._**

 ** _And then there are the smutty parts...well. I hope you enjoy them. This pairing has a lot of potential in my opinion so.._**

 ** _About the Uchiha sealed territory:_**

 ** _I don't like writing or reading too long descriptions, anyway since the Uchiha houses are traditional Japanese, I looked at ancient Chinese or Thai wooden houses instead, to give the impression of their ancestors coming from another place, yet not too far. And I added a Japanese fireplace and a fur rug because I don't care about consistency, the Naruto world isn't realistic anyway._**

 ** _As for time flowing differently, I was inspired by the Japanese folktale of Urashima Taro, where a fisherman saves a turtle and is rewarded with a trip to a wonderful world under the sea. the trip lasts only 3 days but when he returns to surface he finds out that 300 years have passed instead. I have always been fascinated by stories where time is subverted or twisted (also like the movies Interstellar, or Cloud Atlas). I thought it was a fitting addition to the Uchiha sealed land, so while Sasuke and Madara live their own lives, outside, canon events happen._**

 ** _Needless to say I hate canon ending and everything after that, so Zetsu-Sasuke seems a good compromise._**

 ** _As for the final cliffhanger...well. What can I say? Stay tuned for season 2!_**


End file.
